7-Month-Old Charter School May Be Closed

The state Education Department took the unusual step of putting a seven-month-old Bronx charter school on probation and is threatening to close the school for financial and educational mismanagement.

The Kingsbridge Innovative Design Charter School opened 10 days late in September and has struggled ever since to pay its bills and to provide the education it promised in its charter application, according to the state Department of Education. It has about 150 students.

ENLARGE

A view of the Kingsbridge Innovative Design Charter School in the Bronx, which is on probation.
Natalie Keyssar for The Wall Street Journal

In a "probation order," the state said it was taking its actions "for serious violations of law and material and substantial violations of the schools' charter, including fiscal mismanagement."

Charter schools are publicly funded schools that operate separately from the district. There are 125 in New York City. It is rare for charter schools to shut down in New York state, particularly in their first year.

Kingsbridge's founder and executive director, Julio Cotto, disputed the state's view of the school. Fiscal mismanagement "is not the term I would use," he said. "Our financial challenges are similar to those of any charter school moving into a private space in the first year," he said. Mr. Cotto, 30 years old, said the school has been working with the state Education Department since the beginning of the school year to address its issues.

"We have received lots of support from local officials, parents, private investors, including a few Hollywood actors," he said.

A spokesman for the state Education Department said "it is clear that the current operational and fiscal state of the school is unacceptable and cannot continue." The school is on probation until "at least May 17," according to the order, and must complete a 16-point remedial action plan, which Mr. Cotto said the school has nearly finished.

In New York, there are two institutions that authorize charters: the State University of New York's Charter Institute and the Education Department. The city education department also regulates charter schools in the city.

Kingsbridge was authorized in January 2010 by the state Education Department.

"It's clear the authorizers in New York are doing their job in terms of revoking and not renewing," said James Merriman, the chief executive of the New York City Charter School Center. While New York state "has generally had good, high standards for granting charters, I don't think that's been true in all cases and does not appear to be true in this case."

To date, the school has received $1.6 million from the state to fund the kindergarten and first-grade classrooms of the school. Mr. Cotto's salary increased during the year to $85,000 from the $65,000 that was in the charter's application. Mr. Cotto said the pay raise was a board decision.

The state said that the school "has been operating without an instructional leader since Jan. 4, 2011, when the school's second principal was fired." Mr. Cotto said the first principal was only a proposed name in the charter application and never assumed office. He declined to comment on the second principal's situation and said the school is looking for a new principal.

In its probation order, the state said the school "failed to make consistent and proper payments of payroll taxes, insurance and benefits for staff." In January, direct payroll deposits for several staff members were reversed because of insufficient funds, the state said. Mr. Cotto said the payroll problems were fixed in less than 12 hours.

In February, Kingsbridge's teachers filed a petition saying they wanted to join the United Federation of Teachers. Most charter schools have non-union teachers. The school's board has yet to recognize the union, said a UFT spokesman.

Parents outside of the school on Thursday afternoon were supportive. "I think my daughter is doing really well," said Diana Torres, whose daughter Jaidyn attends first grade. "Her reading has definitely progressed." She said that in addition to academic subjects, her daughter also gets music and needle-knitting.

"It's a pretty good school," said Marisol Cruz, whose son Jeremiah attends kindergarten. "Like everything else you start in life, you can't expect everything to be 100%. But you learn."

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